EagleCam!

Reader Amy has clued me in to the Southwest Florida Eagle cam (click on one of the two cameras at the bottom, or choose a split screen), which has a parent and two newly-hatched chicks.

The eagles are called Ozzie and Harriet, and have been nesting in this same spot for seven years (site information starts here). Over that time, they’ve laid nine eggs and fledged 7 chicks, with the two newest ones not counted; so things look propitious. This will be a cam to watch over the next several weeks.

Amy also enclosed a YouTube video of the chicks being fed by Ozzie for the first time yesterday, along with her note:

I guess it’s breeding season all year long in Florida! Teensy top-heavy babies [JAC: “eaglets” for our petulant reader] getting a meal from dad.

This is my favorite stage of eagle baby-raising. The parents are some of the strongest birds alive but they are so gentle and precise when feeding their little nestlings. And they lie on top of them without hurting them!

At Prof Ceiling Cat’s request, I am posting a link to Phoebeallens.com. Phoebe is a non-migratory Allen’s Hummingbird and she has had this nest in this homeowner’s rose bush for just over seven years. She has two eggs and hatch watch starts today. There already appears to be a pip in one egg!

If a pair of eagles is comfortable raising an average of more than a chick a year that close to a four-lane interstate highway, I’m going to hazard a guess and suggest that one guy with a camera from about the same distance isn’t unethically disturbing an eagle whose family has lived on his property for generations.

I check in on the camera daily, and see them live every two weeks, when a neighbor takes me to the supermarket. There’s a church parking lot next to the pasture; many people stop there to watch the eagles. Ozzie and Harriet are probably our two most popular winter visitors.

Our “petulamt reader” will be horrified to learn that in our family we have traditionally called the young of all animals “poopies”, ever since my mother referred to her poopie puppies being housebroken on The Wall Street Urinal. I recently forwarded that picture from this site of the baby platypus to my daughter with the subject line: poopie platypus. My mother is no longer around to share in the fun.